Loretta Lynn, Audrey Hepburn, and more: ‘Mobituaries with Mo Rocca’ shares stories about the dearly departed
CBS News correspondent Mo Rocca brings his love of reading obituaries to his podcast, “Mobituaries.” In this series, Mo selects some of his favorite human interest stories from history and learns about each dearly departed from guests each episode. From relatively unknown dead folks to legends’ stories and the death of things like an American experiment, this podcast is presented similarly to Mo’s work on CBS‘ Sunday Morning.
“Mobituaries” episodes are not limited to humans’ deaths. Start the podcast in any order with the average episode running under an hour, and season 3 kicked off this October. Previous seasons covered deaths of trees, human species, entertainer Sammy Davis Jr., icon Audrey Hepburn, forgotten founding father Thomas Paine, and sitcom characters’ deaths and disappearances – just to name a few.
In a live episode from 2020, Mo spoke with Margalit Fox, a former obituary writer from New York Times to share anecdotes from the job.
A recent episode covered the 1990s Jack Russell terrier star of PBS’ Wishbone, interviewed Wishbone’s head writer Stephanie Simpson, and dog trainer Jackie Kaptan. They shared about their time on the show and unpacked the life and career of its lead actor, a dog named Soccer.
John Denver’s sincere songs like “Country Roads” and “Rocky Mountain High” made him one of the 1970s’ greatest stars. Mo went to Aspen, Colorado and met John’s former wife Annie Denver, their friend Tom Crum, and spoke with music writer Bill Flanagan about the musician’s lasting impact, resonating through his music and message.
After Loretta Lynn passed away, Mo released a podcast episode profiling the country music icon from his CBS Sunday Morning trip to Loretta’s ranch in 2010.
In another episode, Mo spoke about the death of names and chatted with his fifth grade teacher about his shortened name from “Maurice.” Then Mo interviewed Columbia University linguist John McWhorter and actor Todd Bridges about “other names that have seen better days” besides Mildred, Bertha, and Todd.
Insightful, educational, and entertaining new episodes of “Mobituaries” drop every Wednesday wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
Discover
